The Heterodyne Boys
A Really Old Comic by Phil Foglio
This is NOT a Girl Genius story, nor is it actually set in the Girl Genius universe. It is actually set in the Grim Jack universe--Grim Jack being a comic book from the 1980s that Phil did a few backup features for. This was one of them. The story takes place in a place called Cynosure, which is a dimensional crossroads. This is writer's shorthand for, "Anything that I think of can happen here, regardless of genre, causality, logic, or what I thought was going to happen when I started writing this thing, so watch it."
If you recognize some of the names, well, that's because Studio Foglio believes in recycling. These are the original Heterodyne Boys, based upon Phil's real-life scientist friends Bill Higgins and Barry Gehm. They were meant to parody the various 'Boys Adventure' series that were popular around the turn of the last century, and for a while, coming up with Heterodyne Boys titles was a fun exercise during cut-throat games of charades.
When Phil first proposed doing a story called "Girl Genius," the idea was to make Agatha a near-future character who was descended from the Heterodyne Boys. Of course the story changed and morphed, until very little remained from the original concept. (Gil used to be sooo evil...) The Heterodyne Boys changed in all but name and heroism, leaving behind their origins and initial character designs completely. (Sorry, guys!)
It would be interesting to write more stories for the original Heterodyne Boys, (maybe they're Agatha's descendants?) but for now, here's the only one. Enjoy!